


Galaxy in an Eagle's Talons

by RingPing



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), Wolfenstein (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27716576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RingPing/pseuds/RingPing
Summary: With the Kreisau Circle all but crushed when the Ausmerzer tracked down and sank the Eva’s Hammer the Reich no longer had anyone left to challenge their rule on Earth. And so, after discovering more of the coveted hidden Da’at Yichud technological caches, they sought to expand their rule across the stars. However - they will soon find they are not the only ones holding such ambitions.
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Neue Bavaria - January 1st 2460 - 7:00am Local time**

_“Good morning hard working citizens of Neue Bavaria! It is a new day in this burgeoning, prosperous colony. Today is thursday, and what a glorious morning it is! Remember, as a supreme being it is your duty to conduct yourself with the utmost vigour and conviction as you perform your great works for the Fatherland. As you go about your day, dear citizens, keep it in your mind that as a part of this colony you are responsible for spreading the flame of mighty Germania, your true homeland, across the cosmos.”_ The PA system in the town center announced out to the colony beyond to wake the people inhabiting it and ready them for their day ahead.

Neue Bavaria was a small freshly founded colony of only some 150,000 people near the edge of the Reich’s space. The fourth phase of the lebensraum initiative had designated it to eventually become an agricultural based planet that was meant to feed the ever growing population of humanity, as was made evident by the clear liquid of the nearby river where a number of uber concrete lined irrigation canals were being dug out to bring more efficient water flow into the fields located on the other side of the settlement. There, from the golden plains of ripe crops, came the rumbles from tractors that were starting up in preparation for the harvest as it was midsummer on the planet.

Today, however, not everyone was as quick to get to work as they usually were since new year’s had come and gone only a few hours prior - with the festivities and late nights that came with it. Such things were normally prevented by the mandated curfews imposed at 10pm in local hours by planetary law so citizens would wake up energised for the day ahead, but even the Reich knew the value holidays had for overall morale of the people. So on a rare few days each year these laws would be set aside so people need not worry about being fined when simply enjoying themselves.

_“Work is what separates man from ape.”_ The PA system could be heard echoing out one of many scripted messages that was given to whoever was running it.

The local SS officer assigned to the area, along with a small contingent of supersoldaten and a panzerhund, was making his rounds across the town. He was crisply greeting citizens who were already out on the streets with a salute as he walked by, the walking weapons beside him somewhat unsettling those same citizens, but they voiced no open complaint about it and simply replied by rigidly saluting the officer back, keen not to draw his attention to them by failing to do so.

Though the latest models of said weapons were clad in armour that made them look far more sleek and silent than their early counterparts made in the closing days of the war, their fearsome military oriented design, black and silver colour scheme along with the signature swastikas and fear inducing SS symbol painted somewhere on their hulls made it so that each of them still emanated the weighted authority that the Reich so loved to show off.

  
The streets he traversed through were lined with the prefabricated steel and concrete buildings in the style so typical of Reich architecture elsewhere in the galaxy, each of them having at least one or two red, white and black flags with a swastika emblazoned upon it to subconsciously remind the citizens just who the ones in charge were wherever they went. The buildings themselves were plainly organised in grids - education, commercial, leisure - all of which were then arranged to form self contained districts that collectively made up the greater settlement.

Another, though much more imposing, detail on each building meant to placate the people were the non-negligible number of security cameras purposefully located high above the ground that streamed footage back to the central police office. There they could be more resistant to tampering while at the same time being able to survey a far larger area. Another side effect of this positioning was that they were also visible for all to see, letting them know that they were being checked for proper behaviour at every turn.

Besides the panzerhund other autonomous machines were present roaming the streets too, each monotonously performing their own duties as they went. Everything from benign cleaner robots that dusted the pavements to the more ominous observance drohnes that floated over the roads at a little above the height of most cars, their mere presence banishing any thoughts of committing illicit activities to those who spotted them.

  
While this activity was happening on the ground, the skies were equally as busy. Starships hovered overhead as they entered the atmosphere and waited for their turn to land on the planet’s so far quite limited docking space. In their holds they brought with more waves of prospective colonists who had been given the chance to leave the more crowded inner colonies, along with much needed resources to grow the fledgling colony into the breadbasket it was destined to become.

On the docks themselves numbered shipping crates were being unloaded and driven off into city proper, some going the industrial district for their goods to be unloaded and put to use while others were destined for the commercial area to provide both basic necessities such as cleaning products and smaller quantities of much missed luxuries like chocolate.

When looking slightly overhead the hazy dawn light coming from the star located beyond the horizon combined with picturesque fields made the scene look as if it was one of those carefully manufactured images that were put on brochures, on television, or somewhere in the middle of a newspaper where they were placed to constantly advertise and ingrain the accomplishments of the Reich into its people. All in all it looked as if it were the start of another mostly normal, albeit slower than usual, day for much of the people present here.

#####

**Homeworld**

“What is it, Pink?” Yellow Diamond asked, her question aimed towards the image of Pink Diamond on the screen.

“...The planet meant for my colony has organics on it.” Pink said after a short pause.

“So? I can’t do everything for you Pink, if I do then how are you supposed to learn how to be a diamond? If anything you should be welcoming this opportunity so you can practice how to best clear them out in the future.” Yellow replied sternly, exasperated at her for making yet another call while she was still working.

“But my scouts have told me that they’ve already got a settlement constructed and it will be so difficult to remove.” She explained. Yellow’s eyebrows could be seen shifting upwards slightly at the very word of ‘settlement’, a tinge of interest worming its way into her usually stoic demeanour. In the many millennia it has existed the Empire had never encountered any organics with the capability of forming even the most basic civilisation.

Most gems had attributed that to the inherent chaotic and mortal nature of organics making them unable to progress any further beyond the primitive instincts that guided them. This was in stark contrast to the purpose programmed into every gem from the very moment they finish incubating and emerged from the ground, which was a far superior method of guidance that allowed them to seamlessly perform their roles in upholding and expanding the rule of the Empire.

“Have your scouts provided any information on these organics at all?” Yellow asked, guarded curiosity leaking into her tone. “If so, I would like to see it for myself.” She finished, half believing this to be another excuse for the purpose of allowing Pink to be derelict from duty.

“Here, I’ll send them to you right now.” She replied, sounding genuinely enthusiastic at the fact that she was being taken seriously for once, and by Yellow of all gems. Pink could be seen rapidly swiping away at her console to bring up the relevant files while the Pearl standing next to her seemed to also be quietly pleased at the uplifting of her diamond’s mood.

Yellow surveyed each image carefully as they were sent, her attention slowly peaking with each one that she saw. Despite most of them having been taken from high orbit, state of the art gem technology made it so that their resolution was good enough that they were as clear as day. After all, the founding of a diamond’s first colony is a truly momentous occasion and no expense would be spared from making sure that everything would run smoothly.

She knew organics needed to constantly consume other organic material and liquid to maintain themselves, and here she saw the native organics apparently streamlining the production of these things. There were structures surrounding the local source of liquid and square grids made up of some sort of yellow of organic material that was in contrast to the green organics surrounding the rest of the planet. It was too organised for it to have been natural, so the only other conclusion was that they were purposely cultivating what was perhaps a favoured source of material for their own use.

Then came the settlement itself, drab grey buildings that looked to be made of some sort of rock were laid out in a repeating grid pattern that was made especially obvious from orbit. Small as it was, it was still a sign of intelligence in the species. A worrying idea, but one which could be ignored - that is, if it was not for the final major objects that the scout ship had seen during its trip into that section of the new galaxy. Starships. 

According to the reports, the gems of the scout ship had a close encounter with one of these ships as it was rising out of the atmosphere before they realised just what they were looking at and took the appropriate evasive manoeuvres to avoid them. Once they had flown what was thought to be a safe distance away they took the images of the organic species’ ships before going FTL and leaving the system with all haste to return to the Empire. However, it was not clear if they had been spotted or not and this left Yellow somewhat disquieted.

The images showed them as being ugly and blocky things when compared to the refined designs born from gem technology - though Yellow had to admit, she could at least partially appreciate the species’ apparent pragmatism. Their exteriors were coloured in a cold steely grey with the only other visible detail on them being two distinct solid black insignias that were plastered on either side. One looked to be a creature with its claws gripping a star cluster and the other being a group of bars arranged in a strange pattern.

While the full meaning of these symbols was lost on her, she could at least gleam that they were meant to project a whole different kind of authority than the kind she and the other Diamonds favoured. It was one that was far more raw and primitive, yet also far more domineering and plainly obvious in what it was trying to tell to any onlooker - if the meaning of the one with a star cluster in its grasp was what she thought it to be. But whether this was simply a delusion of grandeur or a true reflection of what the organics were like remained to be seen.

She took some time to process exactly what had just been discovered. Alien life that had achieved space travel. It was something wholly unprecedented to the Empire, and whether the colony-to-be was their home planet or not was, as of yet, not entirely clear. If the answer was yes, then their removal would be of trivial difficulty. However if it was not, then it would stand to reason that they are not only spacefaring, but interstellar too.

That would make this operation far more of a headache to complete, especially when they had been exploring that galaxy for nearly two centuries and that had been the first planet with enough life force to actually warrant the construction of a colony upon it. And if the glancing amount of information the scouts had gathered was right then it was quite bountiful in that lifeforce too, exceeding the initial levels present in nearly every planet that the Empire had ever colonised. 

The only options were either to spend resources to wrestle it out of the hands of another power they had little knowledge on, or to simply pack up and spend more centuries looking for another planet that fit the criteria. Even then, the Empire had been in sore need for a new colony for quite some time as recent numbers had been pointing to the possibility of a resource shortage rearing its ugly head near in the future. She may have been a nigh perfect immortal being, but Yellow was unsure if she could stand just another decade of Pink’s rather explosive tantrums, especially with her often being the main person that either had to solve it or that it was directed towards in the first place.

After a deep sigh she made a mental note that after this conversation was over, she would have her peridots to develop large scale stealth technology as fast as they possibly could so she could send for a ship to explore that area of space and gauge the scale of the organic faction’s expansion. While Pink did need to learn how to lead, this task seemed important enough to waver that order and for her to take the reins instead.

“I shall look into the issue-” Yellow could swear that as soon as the words left her mouth Pink looked about ready to explode out of her seat. “-but as a diamond you still need to lead by example. When the time comes to deal with them I expect for you to show nothing but resolute strength no matter what happens, is that clear?” She finished, the question at the end being voiced to show that it was less of a question and more of a thinly veiled command.

“Yes… I will.” Pink replied as she slumped into her seat before the holoscreen with her on it shut off, leaving Yellow alone to continue with her duties and begin dealing with the task ahead. Now that she was freed she picked up the direct diamond line and used it to open up another holoscreen, this time directed to a demantoid who managed what had been consistently graded to be the best group of peridots whose focus was dedicated to research and development.

Whilst Yellow was navigating the contacts list she mulled over the facts. Should this organic faction be small or weak enough, then it should be easy enough to organise a conquest or a large enough show of force to humble them into submission without too many resources being expended in the effort. But if it was discovered that they were larger or more advanced than what she initially thought, then it was logical that she should simply bury any knowledge of their existence so that an unneeded war would not be declared, especially not now with the looming threat of resource constraints. 

Though at this Yellow sighed again, for not matter how much she would try to keep it a secret from the other two, it was inevitable Pink would run her mouth. If anything, trying to hide these events would only make her more likely to speak out should she ever find out what Yellow was doing, even if it was the best course of action for the Empire as a whole. All because she wanted her colony here and now. Though Yellow could not bring herself to truly hate Pink, her patience was still being grated by the youngest diamond’s often brash actions.

While Pink having her own planet would prevent the oncoming resource shortage, as she would then be able to use it as a springboard to colonise other planets in the new galaxy, the potential amount of resources spent on pursuing a large scale war would be far more than even another three millennia worth of extensive scouting missions. Despite what other gems believed about the perfection and greatness of the Empire, Yellow would not lie to herself. Losing was indeed a possibility, and if that happened, then they would only be left in a worse position than they started in.

“For the last time Agate, can you not see that I am b- My Diamond!” Demantoid immediately cut off her tirade and saluted the moment she turned around and saw just who had decided to contact her. Behind her the hive of activity in the green hued area of the control room visible to the holoscreen suddenly stiffened to a halt too as each peridot in sight of the screen dropped whatever they were doing to stand in silence and saluted to the revered matriarch.

“I have a need for you and your peridot’s services in completing a project, the nature of which is to stay top secret but must be completed with all speed. I will be forwarding the relevant data to you now.” Yellow said plainly as she tapped away at her screen, deciding not to follow up with any reprimand on Demantoid’s blatant disrespect as it would only serve to waste precious time that could not be afforded now.

Wishing to make up for the insult, Demantoid made a show of scrunching her face in faux seriousness as she combed her way through the files. However, that pretence of emotion soon became true of what she felt on the inside as she looked over much of the same data that Yellow Diamond had done so herself just moments prior. Once she was done Demantoid nodded grimly before looking up to her diamond for guidance, justifiably concerned about the recent development.

“You and your team are to construct a cloaking device large enough in scale to feasibly cover a hand warship for at least 12 hours at a time and it must be capable of masking both visible light and most other radiation emanated by the ship. I will stress that this is to be made a top priority project that must be completed as soon as is able.” She outlined the details she had in mind. Yellow wanted this to be over as soon as possible for she did not wish for it to go on long enough that Pink would be given cause to drag Blue into it, as she would inevitably fall to her sympathies and lobby for Pink’s interests to be fulfilled despite the Empire not being fully ready to face the roadblock ahead.

“I will not fail you my diamond.” Demantoid replied after noting down the instructions word for word.

“See to it that you do not.” Yellow said just as she closed the direct diamond line and carried on with other tasks she had at hand. It was going to be a long few years ahead, she was sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> This is a story I don’t really see going anywhere, but it seemed like such an interesting idea that I just had to put it out there. 
> 
> Weird coincidence, but on 1st Jan 2460 it will be a thursday and when the PA system of Berlin in game is talking to the city it announces it is also a thursday. Thought that was just a neat little detail.


	2. Chapter 2

**General Deathsthead’s compound - November 15th 1960**

“Die, allied _schweinehund_.” Wilhelm growled out to his foe from within his suit as his quadruple miniguns continued to hammer round after round into the general area where Blazkowicz was scurrying, the increasing number of fumes from broken pipes spouting flames that smudged the cockpit’s front with soot, making it gradually harder for him to see. The increasing amount of creaking the machine made as it took damage made him feel a touch of concern well up from within him as he felt it begin to become more unresponsive, the joints moving slower and the torso no longer spinning as fast as it once did.

Though that was all wiped away in a small fit of anger at the cowardice displayed by the half-breed he was locked in combat with. They did not even have the honour to face him in proper battle, instead scuttling away from him like a cockroach to take potshots at his suit’s rear or sides whenever he mustered whatever little courage his deformed and inferior physiognomy granted him to peek out of cover. Deathshead however soon swept this emotion aside only moments later, knowing that such things were pointless instincts generated by the human mind and that they would only serve to hinder his success if not properly ignored.

_‘If he wants to act like a cockroach, then I will deliver him a fate deserving of one.’_ Wilhelm mentally spat to himself.

“Senseless idiocy.” Was all he could mutter out before his eyes went wide at the sight of a rocket flying directly at his power armour’s leg joints. The ensuing explosion finally broke the machine’s ailing faculties and caused it to topple over onto the ground.

“Knives out.” He heard Blazkowicz whisper as he ripped off the reinforced glass frame covering the cockpit. Deathshead coughed as he crawled out, the acrid smoke from the flames doing irreparable damage to his aging lungs with each mouthful he breathed in. He knew this was the end of the line as he opened his eyes only to see the imposing figure of Blazkowicz standing over him with a knife in hand, the smoke and fire billowing around him made him look like a demon - or perhaps an angel of retribution depending on who was asked. 

Wilhelm ‘Deathshead’ Strasse was an old and frail being when compared to the squared soldierly physique of his opponent, but he made no sign of weakness by bargaining or bawling in front of them. Indeed, he actually smiled on the inside as he had planned ahead for every possibility, including him losing the battle. Here, at what was likely going to be the final few seconds of his life, he would now take the opportunity to activate the back up plan he brought along with him and cut off one of the heads of the pathetic Kreisau Circle resistance once and for all.

“I will never kneel to you!” Deathshead defiantly exclaimed.

“Fine. I will gut you standing.” Was all Blazkowicz promised to him before he grabbed ahold of Deathshead and began rapidly stabbing at the man’s torso and guts. At this, Wilhelm could only laugh between each wretch of blood he spat out as he reached into his back pocket to grab his back up plan. Though the sheer pain being sent into his nervous system by the knife being repeatedly shanked into him caused him to fumble for some time, he inevitably managed to take hold of it in his left hand and stretched it out for both him and Blazkowicz to see.

“So gullible!” He mocked the man through a fit of pained laughter as he flicked the pin off of the grenade, shoving it directly into Blazkowicz’s torso right at the moment it detonated. A flash of light, the crack of an explosion, then nothing but two sets of mauled corpses lying there - stewing in a soup made of shrapnel and viscera that quickly congealed into puddles of reddish brown liquid in the searing heat of the room.

  
Soon after their deaths a squad of SS troops arrived at the scene, alerted to the deterioration of the situation by the destruction of the two zeppelins that kept the amount of lightning entering Deathshead’s power armour at a stable level. The following explosion from the suit’s energy shield then becoming overloaded being the thing that told them something had gone deeply wrong in the first place, thus prompting them to investigate.

They had run through the compound to make it to Deathshead’s estimated location with all haste, their speed being quickened by the two facts that hung over their heads. The first and most pressing being that the stolen U-Boat which had surfaced in front of the compound had been detected to have a massive radiation signature located inside its bow mounted cannon. The second of which was the sheer value the General had due to his exceptional intelligence allowing for the technological breakthroughs which allowed the Reich to conquer the whole planet.

“What are you waiting for? Find the General’s head or any brain matter you can, NOW!” The leader of the squad barked out to his subordinates upon seeing the dishevelled torso of the leader of the SS’s special projects division propped up against the ruined power armour. He and the troops split apart, coughing as they wafted away the growing clouds of smoke in an effort to clear their vision just enough to be able to actually search the ground.

Soon they were forced to crawl and feel their way around for any piece of flesh they could find as the smoke had become positively choking in its thickness. For a few frantic minutes they felt the ground around the broken suit, anything remotely squidgy being picked up and brought close to their faces for inspection before either being thrown away if it was of no value or being put away inside their satchels if it resembled the pink hue or wrinkled texture of a brain.

Much to their relief one of the troopers found the mostly intact head of the General, which appeared to have been totally blown off of his neck by the grenade. The skin on the face may have been scorched beyond recognition, but the only thing that mattered was that the brain case appeared to be mostly unbreached aside from a few shards of metal shrapnel from the grenade. The moment the trooper called out the fact to everyone, the squad leader ordered the others to leave the compound with what they had. There was no point in staying any longer if it meant risking the thorough destruction of their precious cargo in nuclear hellfire.

_“Captain? Captain can you hear me?! The Eva’s Hammer’s nuclear cannon is ready to fire and I need your confirma-”_ The panicked sounding voice coming from Blazkowicz’s miraculously intact headset on the floor was soon shut off as one of the troopers stamped on the piece of machinery before they along with the others evacuated the area and made their way out to find an aircraft, taking with them assorted amounts of what once was the General’s body in hand. Though already a hundred years old, he was not destined to die here this day. Nor this century.

#####

**Sterblich Station - Unknown star system - April 27th 2460**

Hidden away inside an especially huge asteroid that itself was only one amongst a larger belt that was skirting the edges of some faraway star system lay Sterblich station. Its location was not represented on any star maps, be they of civilian, military or leadership grade in their clearance levels. Those few who were made privy of its existence had to learn the jump coordinates to it by heart, often only by word of mouth from another who already knew. 

It was a primitive and inefficient way to share information, but in a twist of slight irony, that was what made it the most powerful encryption in existence. There was no database that could be hacked nor any files that could be stolen that would allow any unwelcome eyes to gain a glimmer of its existence. But just because finding it was near impossible did not mean that the Reich left it at that, for its importance to the upholding of their regime warranted far more defensive measures to be taken.

Sensor array after sensor array lined every smaller asteroid, nuclear mines painted to look like rocks were left inside the belt as surprises for any wayward vessels while enormous anti-capital ship gun emplacements sat inside the larger asteroids, ready to rise up at a moments notice and melt any ship that failed to provide the correct information to the station’s A.I. No expense was to be spared protecting the new domain of what was perhaps the most powerful figure in the entire Reich, one whose power technically eclipsed that of even the Führer himself.

As far as anyone who knew of it was concerned, the only way for Sterblich station to be successfully assaulted was through sheer brute force by sending a fleet of truly enormous magnitude to simply overrun all these defenses. Even then it may as well be considered impregnable for the only known force they had known so far to be able to muster such a fleet was the Sternmarine, who was ultimately on their side anyways.

Space near the station began to distort and cave into itself, the laws of physics in the local area being bent to the will of some as of yet unseen force. Suddenly, as if like a stretched slingshot that had been let go of, the distorted space snapped back into position while also launching a somewhat small, at only fifty meters long, barely discernible object out. Deep black in colour with nothing else on its hull but speckled white paint to make it look as if it were a part of the cosmos. It was nothing short of one of the enigmatic black ships of the SS.

Adding to its stealth was the fact that it utilised an albeit updated version of the old power hungry antigravity engines that had been present since the 1960s Venus colonisation effort as opposed to the more modern fusion powered rocket engines for they produced minimal amounts of detectable radiation compared to the searing beacons of light that rocket engines released. Despite the increased running costs, this was all worth it to the Reich as they had the resources necessary to maintain the relatively small fleet of ships that were purposely built with this propulsion system.

As it approached the asteroid containing Sterblich station, the ship’s A.I. connected with that of the station’s and they began a rapid conversation to exchange information. Identification, cargo, personnel aboard - all of it was processed and deeply scrutinised by the cold pragmatic machine mind within milliseconds. Outwardly nothing happened for a few seconds, until what was supposedly solid rock split apart and shifted upwards before sliding sideways to reveal the metal innards of a dock appropriate for a ship its size on the lower part of the asteroid.

The ship floated over into the dock, and once it arrived the huge gates slowly began to lock together again, a resounding clang could be heard as the magnets within their machinery sealed them together. In turn a pair of enormous robotic arms uncoupled from the roof and swung down to clamp on the sides of the SS ship. The magnets on the arms activated and locked it in place a little above the ground, allowing the ship to deactivate its antigravity engines at last. 

Now that it was within the harsh clinical lighting of the dock its shape was far obvious, a bulky rear containing much of the reactor along with the crew and cargo space. Then a thin, though no less blocky, front extended forwards that made up half the length of the ship altogether and contained much of its main weapon’s machinery. There, right at the very front, was a huge circular lens meant to focus the laser beam that it produced into truly scorching temperatures. Though today it was not meant to wage war, but instead it was here to deliver a most important piece of technology to a most important person who needed it very much. 

“Oxygen levels building… Oxygen levels building… Oxygen levels nominal.” A computerised voice announced as air was being cycled back into the dock after it had been brought out to prevent it from being shunted into open space by the gates opening. The completion of the process prompted the bottom of the ship to hiss a small puff of white gas as a modestly sized cylinder fully broke itself off from the bottom part of the ship’s rear and flew down to the ground, though still remaining hovering just a few centimeters above.

Another few seconds of silence ensued before part of the cylinder shifted upwards and slid sideways to open, revealing a squad of four SS troops and a latest generation supersoldaten guarding a flatbed trolley that had the crate which held the contents of its precious shipment. The supersoldaten grunted as they shifted the trolley forwards with unusual dexterity for their kind, as if they too knew the stakes behind the technology hidden inside needing to be in working order. Next the SS troops followed them, two placed themselves in the front and the other two walked behind to make utterly sure that it was protected on all sides. They may have been within friendly territory, but they would not risk their cargo taking even the slightest damage.

The secondary door that lead into the bowels of the facility opened up, showing a starkly empty gunmetal grey corridor with the only detail being the repeating reinforced polarised glass windows, vertical blast doors, harsh white lighting emplacements on the roof and a strip of rectangular black paint in the middle of the floor. The place even lacked the usual embellishments of swastikas or other symbols of the Reich, but it was not as if the people who had been trusted to work here needed any increased reminder of their loyalties anyway.

With that, the group made their way down the corridor, one of them pulling up a map of the area by projecting it from a holoscreen emitter located on the forearm of their armoured gauntlet. Though the end of their journey was nearly there, once the crate was delivered the beginning of another’s would be all set to begin anew, along with a second wave of carnage and destruction that would be brought in its wake.

#####

**Sterblich station - Alpha level containment chamber no.3**

_“You perplex me captain. But, you do not scare me.”_ Deathshead said to himself in fluent english as his enormous robotic body paced back and forth across the otherwise empty large scale containment cell while randomly firing off rounds into the thick metal walls as if he was fighting some unseen enemy. What little that remained of him was simply a meshed together brain floating in amniotic fluid in a tank that was placed deep within an armoured compartment of his machine body.

“How long has this bout lasted?” A scientist asked his colleague as they observed the chamber from a window above. Stoic as they were on the outside, on the inside they worried over the future of the Reich, a future which would potentially leave them bereft of the most brilliant mind ever produced by their species should he succumb to his madness.

“General Strasse confined himself in the chamber approximately eight solar hours ago and the symptoms began manifesting again seven and a half solar hours ago. Data collected by the brainwave monitors tell us that, despite how long this bout has lasted, it has yet to even reach its peak.” The other scientist explained grimly.

“My God, it's getting rapidly worse now.” He muttered to himself as he opened the holoscreen projector on his forearm and read through the previous notes made on the General’s decaying condition. “Last time it lasted for seven solar hours and twenty two solar minutes, then only six solar hours and forty three solar minutes before that.” He recited the figures while shaking his head.

The General’s delusions began somewhere around a dozen years ago, the nature of the first incident being that he attempted to dissect a researcher thinking they were some captured RAF pilot despite that organisation not having existed for roughly five centuries. Thankfully the first fit of insanity was short lived and he dropped the researcher before any damage could be done. From that day onward whenever he felt like his mind was slipping Deathshead would come here, though not out of any sense of compassion for his colleagues, but out of mere pragmatism as he knew the damage he could potentially cause would be most counterproductive to the work that went on in the station.

_“Ah! like Prometheus I steal fire from the gods.”_ Deathshead said to himself again in english while aiming up at the sky as if he was expecting to catch a lightning bolt to charge his energy shield even though this latest model of modified power armour made to act as his body had a good enough power source to run its own shield independently. Due to his value to the regime, the transfer into new bodies and subsequent maintenance of his brain was always done with the utmost care to preserve him for as long as possible. But entropy had its way of rotting everything, and after spending over five hundred years in this state his mind was on its last legs.

Therefore whenever he was blessed with the respite of lucidity Wilhelm vigorously pursued the research of technology pertaining to extending, or indeed, transcending his mortality altogether. Now came the day where his work would at last bear fruit, and not before long either. The most generous estimates of the time he had left before his condition progressed to the point that he was too far beyond salvaging was a little less than three months.

“It is a good thing then that the shipment we requested has finally arrived, and earlier than expected too. We need only to wait for this bout to end before we can begin the process of uploading.” The first scientist said, managing to crack a small yet deeply uncharacteristic smile for someone of the SS special projects division. A hiss of the blast door being opened behind the pair announced the delivery of what they had been waiting for, causing them to turn around and greet the soldiers escorting the cargo with a salute which was promptly returned by every one of them but the supersoldaten. 

The cyborg behemoth walked up to the two and grunted again as they gently picked up the nondescript metal crate from the flatbed trolley and placed it on the floor just in front of the two before turning around in concert with the SS troops to leave the room. The group left to attend to other duties, the blast door closing behind them and left the scientists with the nerve wracking task ahead of preserving the future of the Reich. Failure was not an option here. Here they would succeed with flying colours, or be faced with termination.


	3. Chapter 3

**Gem Warship - Milky Way Galaxy, en route to Planet PD.1 system - February 23rd 2461**

The inside of the ship was silent, deathly silent. While there may have been five dozen gems aboard the ship, the only noise that could be heard was the quiet background whine of machinery or the echoing clang of footsteps impacting on the metal floor as the gems they came from moved throughout the innards of the ship. 

Each of them were busy working at their respective stations, fifty nine peridots were tapping away at numerous consoles and holoscreens or making in depth inspections of every part of the ship, especially the stealth drive, to be utterly sure that everything was working as it should be. Their managing demantoid, the same one who had been put in charge of the stealth drive project in the first place, looked over them with her signature eternal half scowl despite the fact that these peridots had always met or exceeded expectations.

Though these types of gems would often be nothing more than stoic scientists and engineers, the nature of the mission they had ahead of them meant that there was a wispy atmosphere of nervousness that blanketed the ship. Rather than their usual bored or uncaring expressions, the peridots were visibly anxious while Demantoid herself seemed to be taking far more of an interest in what her subordinates were doing. 

She regularly walked around the ship and looked over the shoulders of every peridot to make sure they were totally on task. As she arrived back in the control room she sat down with a sigh, that had been the fourth time so far that she had made a journey throughout the entire ship. Though she had not found even the tiniest speck of an error each time, she still could not help but shake off the feeling of dread that clamped around her psyche.

There was no room for failure here, either this mission would succeed or they would be shattered. Either by order of Yellow Diamond, or by the species they were sent to spy on should the stealth drive not be able to perform up to standard. Neither conclusion was one that anyone aboard wanted to happen, but at least being shattered by Yellow Diamond meant that they would be recycled back into resources to form new gems so their deaths wouldn’t be a waste.

“Dropping out of FTL in five,” She heard the peridot beside her speak out into the shipwide comms unit to alert everyone of what was to come. Demantoid could only hold in her breath while she clasped her hands together and placed them under her chin in anticipation, scrunching her face for no discernable reason as she did so.

“Four, three,” The peridot continued to count down the seconds. In response Demantoid promptly moved her hands away from the position they assumed earlier and hovered her index finger over the command console to activate the stealth drive as she wished to cloak the ship as soon as it entered the system.

“Two, one.” The very moment those words left the peridot’s mouth Demantoid slammed down on the console, perhaps a bit harder that was necessary, but she did not want to risk the chance that it would not respond to her actions should she have pressed it too lightly. “Micro-singularity dissipation successful. Stealth drive activation starting.” The peridot said.

An area in front of the ship seemed to shimmer invisibly for a time before it exploded outwards and consumed the whole ship and the phenomenon dissipated soon after, the only evidence of the stealth drive having done its work being that it made space outside look slightly distorted to any viewer from within the ship. Demantoid let go of her held breath in a heavy sigh of relief. The drive may have been extensively tested for weeks before they embarked on the mission, but the fact that it worked on the field was what really mattered.

“Peridot, Facet-4X9N, Cut-4HM. I need a status report.” She asked one of the peridots in the control room, though without even spinning her command chair around to face them. The slight trembling in her tone at the beginning of the sentence betrayed the mild unease she felt chipping away at her on the inside, but it seemed that no one else had caught on and she quickly corrected that flaw by sounding more authoritative when she finished speaking the order.

“Your clarity,” The peridot began by addressing her with respect, for Demantoid was a form of garnet, one of the ruling class of gems. “We have arrived on the dark side of the designated planet’s second moon. So far the initial scan we have sent out upon arrival has detected no artificial objects either on, or orbiting the moon- wait.” She suddenly hesitated with her words, giving Demantoid cause to feel a growing inkling of fear as the peridot maintained their silence.

The peridot warily eyed her screen for a time before making the ship’s scanner emit another, more focused pulse that was directed in the area of the object that had alerted her. Though once this scan returned, the results it gave caused the peridot’s shoulders to sag in relief. “It is an asteroid about ninety eight meters in diameter, but its orbit means that the odds of it striking the ship is minimal.” She announced.

_‘Fortunate, most fortunate.’_ Demantoid thought to herself, also inwardly thankful for the fact they landed hidden and right on target. True, she may have been in charge of a warship and so she could defend herself from any interlopers, but Yellow Diamond’s orders explicitly told them this was a reconnaissance mission and they were not to engage anyone unless absolutely necessary since it would have the likely and unwanted side effect of heavily alerting the organics about their existence. 

When compared to the vastness of the void of space a single moon was miniscule, and while they did calculate the coordinates of the jump beforehand, they could only be so accurate when their starting point was in another galaxy that was a few million light years away. But it seemed that luck was on their side, for now at least.

“Good.” Was all she replied with, a few seconds of quiet following the statement as Demantoid allowed her anxieties to wash away before she spoke another word, not wanting to sound weak or indecisive when she did. “Continue scanning the planet and the area around it along with as many communication range frequencies as possible. We need to gather all the information we can with the limited amount of time we have at our disposal.” She added.

“Of course, your clarity.” The peridot said with a curt nod as she turned back around to her station and did as she was ordered, data now beginning to stream into the various consoles and holoscreens that were in front of her.

Demantoid too started to tend to her duties as she dipped her hands into the console and locked her mind into the ship, allowing her to control it as finely as she would be able to control her own body. Though no outsider could see it, the hand ship began to shift around away from pointing towards the moon and flew opposite in the direction it was orbiting so they could finally get a visual on the planet itself.

It was verdant, very verdant, indicating it was incredibly full of life force just waiting to be used in gem production. Exactly how much, however, was currently a mystery as Pink Diamond’s scouts had only managed a glancing scan before they had to leave due to the unexpected presence of the organic species’ starships. Wanting this gap in the Empire’s knowledge to be corrected, Demantoid set the hand ship’s index finger to point directly at the planet to send out multiple detailed scans so she can paint a picture not only of the planet’s life force levels, but also other important factors to gem production such as geography and mineral composition.

Incredibly detailed information flooded Demantoid’s senses at tens of gigabytes every second, every single bit of which was analysed by her sharp mind before it was sent into the ship’s databanks for later upload when she was back in friendly territory. She could not risk sending a long range message during a stealth mission, for the power needed that needed to be put into it to allow it to reach her home galaxy would also be enough that it would likely be detected by the organics without them even purposely trying to.

She momentarily spared a small amount of her focus away from flying the ship or analysing the data and instead to make a check on how much longer the stealth drive could operate until it would be forced to shut off and cool down. It had not been long since the drive was activated, but she still wanted to get a gauge of the time she had left before the ship would need to make for the closest gas giant of the system so they could hide around it and depart.

Eleven hours, fifty six minutes and thirty nine seconds exactly, giving her an estimated seven and a quarter hours to conduct more reconnaissance before using the remaining time to fly to the gas giant so that they would be a good distance from the planet so that she could power down the stealth drive, divert its power away and leave the system. After all, the stealth drive only lasted so short because of how power hungry it was and the energy it hogged would need to be diverted to the singularity drive before they could leave.

_‘It’s not quite as much time as I had hoped for, but I need to work with what I have.’_ Demantoid thought to herself as data continued flowing through her mind. The planet was indeed chock full of life force, setting its initial levels as being the third most the Empire had ever found on a single world. Though not a member of the as of now small Pink court, she was happy for them. This planet would make for a great first colony to build their numbers off of.

  
  


#####

**Sterblich station - Unknown system - February 24th 2461**

_*CLING, CLANG, CLING, CLANG*_ The noise repeated throughout the hallways of the station. Everyone within hearing distance of it knew immediately what was coming and stood to the sides of the halls, making room for who was to come. Soldiers and scientists alike all straightened their postures and readied to make a salute for them. On the corner of the hallway a titan of a machine came through, servos in its joints hissed as they worked to turn around first its torso then its legs, making it face the small makeshift procession in front of them.

When they all saluted it, a light rumbling sound akin to a quieter version of the noise made by a lawnmower being started up emanated out of the voice box of the robot. “I appreciate your candour, gentlemen, but there is important work to be done here. It is best that you return to your stations.” He spoke to them in his artificial, yet so familiar sounding voice. Though the sentence at the end was worded like a suggestion, everyone present knew in their hearts that it was an order and that it was in their best interests to follow it.

“Yes General, Sir!” Everyone replied at the same time, causing the words to echo. Once the general had passed through that section of the hall all of their statue-like postures fell back down into the usual strict formality and they carried on their way. This contrasted to the oddly lively stride the war machine made as he made his way to his personal office, specially designed to accommodate his gigantic frame for he stood at a little under five meters tall.

After his near death experience when Blazkowicz destroyed his zeppelin whilst he was still on it in 1944 the old scientist may have brooded for some time, but after some time to ponder, he realised just how lucky he was to have survived the crash. Ever since then he has had a fresh outlook on life, taking every day he spent alive as a gift that he was lucky to be allowed to enjoy, and in a way it was. 

Despite the sheer immorality of the things he had done, he always made a point to have a small, but true smile on his face, at least when he still had a body of flesh. Now he simply resorted to having subtle joyful mannerisms made through his movement to show his emotions, such as the walk he exhibited right now.

Though if anything it was that same immorality that gave him joy. While his machine body did not show it, Deathshead smiled to himself as he fondly remembered vivisecting the brain out of that RAF pilot while forcing Blazkowicz to watch. It was an early accomplishment of his, to truly fuse man and machine for the first time, that had long been eclipsed by his other achievements in the past few hundred years, but he was proud of it nonetheless. After all, he would not be alive today if he had not researched such fields of science.

Now, after his second near death experience he had felt livelier than ever. His decaying brain had been replaced with a much more fresh feeling virtual copy of his consciousness on a chip, and for the first time ever his machine body no longer felt like a prison, but like it was a part of him. This newest model was ten whole tonnes of metal, yet the improvements on it meant that he moved with almost as much dexterity as a baseline human.

With one last turn around another hallway he at last arrived at the room which held his personal office. Out of habit he attempted to use the datapad to physically input his password, but decided not to at the last minute, wishing to test out the new capabilities his computerised sentience now granted him. Deathshead did the robot equivalent of a deep breath before a dive when he let his mind directly communicate with the pad. 

He fumbled around for some time, still trying to get a grip on how to properly use his abilities, but after three seconds he managed to mentally tell the pad his password and much to his glee it worked. The solid blast door made a hiss of air as it split apart and opened, revealing a pair of supersoldaten standing their silent vigil on either side of the entrance to his office. When he walked past them he thought about how though he had been interred in machines of some sort for over five hundred years, it still felt a little strange for him to tower over the supersoldaten by so much.

As the general turned on his personal computer using his more agile lower pair of arms, which were also around the size of a baseline human’s, he was immediately greeted by a message marked as being of Alpha-1 priority. Curiousity overtook him as he wondered what the contents could have been about, but as he opened it his expectations were all blown away. While Alpha-1’s were rare, he had seen enough in his long life to know they usually pertained to natural disasters or the evolution of another pandemic level pathogen that required his brilliance to solve.

But what he most definitely, certainly and absolutely did not was expect aliens. When he watched the hand shaped green object fly into the system that shimmered and disappeared soon after, he felt a nearly foreign, thought to be long forgotten emotion that welled up inside of him. The pure, unadulterated joy of childhood aspiration. Sure, it may have been kickstarted slightly when his genius allowed mankind to set foot on the moon, and again when he invented faster-than-light travel, but those highs never lasted long or felt as intense in the first place.

_‘My God, immortal as I am, I never thought I would see the day. Especially not so soon!’_ Deathshead was overjoyed as he watched the ship blur into existence and immediately shimmer as it cloaked itself with some unknown technology. Its method of FTL travel appeared to be exotically different to the one he developed despite both methods also utilising gravity. These aliens, it seemed, were able to generate and maintain control of miniature black holes.

As hidden as they tried to be, little did these aliens know, someone had seen their entry into the Neue Bavaria system. From behind an asteroid that was artificially towed there the SS black ship originally assigned to the system to secretly watch over the denizens of the planet caught sight of them before leaving the system with all speed to relay their findings. The crew may have only been able to capture a few frames of footage of the alien ship being uncloaked when it first entered the system, but it was enough to build a most interesting report. One that the general was now busy being enamoured over.

“You think you are being stealthy, do you?” Deathshead spoke to himself with another rumbling mechanical chuckle escaping. He played the footage again and again, then on the fourth replay he paused the video and went frame for frame until he caught the very moment the ship arrived but had not yet cloaked. He wondered why they sought to sneak their way into the system instead of simply showing themselves to humanity or leaving them alone.

Curiousity? A possibility. Deathshead would enjoy the idea of meeting kindred minds, ones who only wished to learn and answer the endless questions of the universe. Of course they would first have to prove themselves to be worthy of the master race’s attention before he would even consider interacting with them, but if they did, then he would waste no time conversing with them. The things they could both teach and learn from eachother would be bountiful indeed.

Courtesy? Intriguing. Maybe they simply wished to be polite, learn about human customs and culture before making themselves widely known to his species so as to not cause any incidents when they inevitably interacted. Deathshead valued those who are able to conduct themselves in a formal manner, especially when around those who were likely to be their superiors.

Conquest? Perhaps. He mulled over the idea. They could be prospective invaders, and that this ship’s arrival was the calm before the storm, the lightning that heralded the thunder. Knowing was half the battle, and if conquest was the case, then he appreciated these aliens’ initiative despite it being a waste. He was confident that they would break before the indomitable wall that was the Reich once all was said and done.

Deathshead liked the idea, for it would give humanity a chance to flex the military muscle it had been building for centuries, not in simulations or war games, but against a foe that could truly deliver a challenge to it. War would also give him many, many chances to study this new species that he wouldn’t have if they were at peace as it would give him many samples to dissect. Both dead… and alive.

Whatever the reason for their arrival into human space was he would not let this opportunity pass. He would quietly prepare to make contact with these unknowns, one way, or the other.


	4. Chapter 4

**Diamond control room - Andromeda Galaxy, Klavius 7 - October 9th 2461**

Three days ago. Three days ago was when the warship at last returned into Empire space after its long excursion into the new galaxy, but only hours ago did all the information it had gathered on its trip finally finish being uploaded. Zettabytes of data poured into the colony’s databanks, containing everything about the planets they had managed to find - constructs, climate, chatter from intercepted communications and so much more. So much information, all there for Yellow Diamond to comb through and learn from.

And yet, in many ways it was so frustratingly little. The infiltration team’s efforts were admirable, that much was true, but they had gathered nearly nothing that would allow her to glean any knowledge on the more important aspects of the organic faction’s power. There was nearly no military information, minimal solid intel on their technology, or even something as simple as how many planets they had under their rule. Being unable to gauge these things meant that any campaign they went on would be going in blind.

What was far more irritating however was the sheer concentration of worlds that had high levels of life force in that area of the galaxy. For centuries they had scoured it only to come up empty handed, and now that they searched only a fraction of that arm of the galaxy they had found two dozen planets suitable for gem cultivation before the prototype stealth drive began to malfunction from overuse and the team was forced to return to the Empire. Eighteen of which were either of similar or better quality than the first world they had found, and to add to the appeal all of those planets seemed to be clustered in the same general area.

Yellow realised what she was looking at represented an opportunity that, if taken, could enable the single most rapid and enormous burst of growth the Empire had ever experienced. The more she stewed over it, the more the risks seemed to be outweighed by the rewards. If she would allow Pink to lay claim to these planets, then the Empire would be gifted with a whole new court of gems along with the new abilities and roles that came with them. 

Besides, if what information the team had intercepted was correct, then these organics had only been spacefaring for five centuries. Practically fresh out of the ground as far as she was concerned when compared to the millennia of constant expansion the Empire had been through. Logic would dictate that, though she was not privy to exactly how large they were, they would be rather small if that was how little time they were spacefaring for. And that was not even factoring the inherent inefficiencies of their organic nature hindering their progress.

She had made up her mind on the situation, now the only thing that was left was to let the others know of her decision, starting with Pink. While she opened the direct line linked to the youngest diamond Yellow braced herself for the likely outburst of joy that would come from Pink the moment the announcement leaves her mouth. She may have never shown it, but Yellow thought it was good to see them happy, even if that happiness could be quite insufferable at times.

“Oh Yellow! How good to see you.” Pink said with genuine politeness, though it was quite obvious from her tone that she was eager to hear an update on the world that was intended to become her colony.

“As it is to also see you Pink.” Yellow Diamond replied courteously. “I called you today to inform you that I have come to a decision on how to proceed with your colony.” She told her, the slight amount of positivity leaking out into Yellow’s words hinting that it was the outcome that Pink wished to hear.

“And..?” Pink said, the excited impatience she felt being made plain for all to see as she gripped and pushed on the arm rests of her chair, causing her to lean slightly forwards into her holoscreen.

“You will be allowed to begin colonisation within an estimated three months time, perhaps sooner if you complete your side of the preparations quickly enough.” Yellow told her in an attempt to make her be motivated to work hard for her reward. If the second half of her statement was not able to push Pink into working, then she had no idea what would.

“Really? Oh my stars thank you Yellow!” She exclaimed, excited to finally have the chance to prove herself as deserving of being born a diamond.

“Though of course as you know, the organics present on the planet are advanced enough that they will pose a real threat to the establishment of the colony. In light of this I will be sending a number of my own Citrine regiments along with a Yellow Lace Agate to command in and aid in pacifying the planet.” Yellow informed her, immediately dampening her mood.

“But- but it’s my colony, shouldn’t I be the one overseeing everything?” Pink stammered out in protest.   
  
“The establishment of a diamond’s first colony is a rare and momentous occasion, meaning that every gem in the Empire will have their eyes on you. Nothing short of absolute perfection can be allowed for the event.” Yellow affirmed her position on the topic.

“You and the others have always been saying I need to grow up and act like a diamond. This is my chance to do that, can’t you at least give that to me?!” She said in an attempt to push her case.

“Pink.” Yellow sternly said her name on its own to get her attention. “Know that once this colony is constructed, any subsequent colonies you construct will all be solely under your jurisdiction. I, nor the other diamonds will not be allowed to interfere unless you allow us or if a situation on it becomes dire enough.” She reasoned.

“It takes another few centuries at least until I finish building that planet until I can move on to another one, then that planet won’t be my first colony either. It just wouldn’t feel the same at that point!” Pink tried to argue, but she now was running low on valid reasons.

“If it is any consolation, there are nearly thirty planets in that general area of the galaxy which are suitable for gem cultivation, and all of them are likely to be yours in the future.” After an annoyed sigh Yellow spilled out information previously only known to her in an effort to silence Pink. The other diamond seemed to rapidly blink for a few seconds before opening and closing her mouth, though without any words leaving as she did. The number thrown at her had felt as if it had whacked her face and left her thoroughly gobsmacked, if anything she was now somewhat apprehensive to begin colonising so soon if that was the weight which rested upon her.

“If that is all you have to say, then I suggest we end this discussion now. Both of us have duties ahead to tend to, you especially.” Yellow reminded. 

“Oh, of course.” Pink finally replied, at last having snapped out of her stupor and closed the line. The words came out unsure and unsteady, a reflection of the tumultuous emotion that ran its course inside of her.

#####

**Homeworld - Pink Diamond’s room**

“Isn’t that wonderful my diamond? You have waited for thousands of years for one colony and now you’ve been granted so many!” Pearl enthusiastically said to her as the line closed, to this Pink’s shocked surprise was washed away by a quiet smile. Though Pink was initially reluctant to leave her original one, she had come to like this pearl for always being rather outgoing, for a pearl at least. 

That made her far more likeable in Pink’s eyes, for she actually conversed with her at times instead of assuming the role of a silent servant that trailed behind their owner and only spoke when spoken to like nearly all other pearls did. Then again, Yellow’s pearl was also an exception to this rule and her method of being outgoing was far less appealing since it usually meant showing sheer abrasiveness to anyone but the diamonds.

“My diamond-”

“Pearl, you know you don’t have to call me that.” Pink cut her off, her voice sounding supporting and gentle when she did.

“...Pink,” The name came out sounding unsure, but Pearl barreled on through the rest of the sentence regardless. “Perhaps Yellow Diamond is only doing this because she cares about you?” She suggested, though quickly realising her mistake as Pink Diamond scoffed at the idea.

“Oh but whenever she tells me anything it's always something like ‘as a diamond you need to set an example’, or ‘it’s for the good of the Empire’. It is her caring, but it doesn’t really feel like she cares for me as… well as me! She only ever cares for me as a diamond- even that! Here she is walking in and taking over part of setting up  _ my _ colony for me. If she always insists so much about making me act like a diamond, then maybe she should just leave me alone to let me have this one thing.” Pink voiced her complaints, causing Pearl to almost flinch away as she realised her words may have touched on a sore spot.

“Perhaps if it would be best if we go out to address the other gems of your court? It is part of the preparations after all.” Pearl then counter suggested her previous point to distract from it, knowing full well she was not equipped to deal with the mental baggage of a diamond. 

“That doesn’t sound half bad. Sure, why not.” Pink replied nonchalantly after thinking over it for a moment. Normally she found activities like these to be incredibly boring, not only as her court was still small so there were few gems to address anyways, but also but also since it was something the other diamonds often forced onto her as part of ‘practicing being a ruler’. At least here she was doing it out of her own free will and there was something to gain besides ‘experience’.

“Shall I notify the court to gather in the throne room then my- Pink?” Pearl immediately corrected herself.

“Yes Pearl, that would be great.” Pink complemented Pearl’s initiative as she stood up from her chair and began to make her way to the throne room. Pearl tagged behind with a speed walk, since Pink Diamond’s size meant she had quite a long stride. Whilst her legs moved to play catch up to Pink with haste, she multitasked on her holoscreen to compose then send a mass message to the few gems that currently made up the pink court.

It had only taken them a few minutes to arrive in the room and Pink soon took to sitting on the relatively small crystalline pink throne at the bottom. There she sat for a time, occasionally taking glances at the far larger thrones of the other diamonds that lay beside and above her. As time ticked by she realised just how uncomfortable sitting on these things were, they were beautifully crafted, that was obvious, but it appeared that was the only factor that went into their production seeing as how much it somewhat ached to sit on them for any prolonged period.

Much to the release of her impatience, she began to hear the signature ping that warp pads made as they activated, signifying that her court had arrived at last. The enormous door made to accommodate the size of a diamond at the other end of the throne room opened, revealing the entirety of her humbly sized court of only some four hundred gems. It wasn’t much, but if everything in the near future went as planned, then this would no longer have to be the case. She would be the head of her own full fledged court.

_ ‘And it all starts here.’  _ Pink thought to herself with a breathless sigh.

Barely enough rubies and rose quartzes to form a heavily understrength regiment marched in formation with a single Pink Agate to lead them. The military gems lined up in front of her, the Agate standing at the forefront with the rubies and rose quartzes standing behind her in two lines, the rubies making up the first line so they could be seen. They all then did the salute of the diamonds to her in unison before both lines wordlessly and seamlessly split apart and set themselves to stand on one side of the red flooring that ran through the middle of the room.

The next group that followed them, which as of now made the bulk of her court’s numbers, was led by a very haughty looking Pyrope whose own pink pearl trailed meekly behind them. They seemed to be able to continue to carry an air of self-importance around them despite being around a diamond, as was so blatantly shown when she continued to flap her fan while she approached, only having put it down when finally in front of Pink. Other aristocrats in various courtly dresses followed behind her, still looking as if they valued themselves above others, but acting far more muted when in the presence of someone far more important than they.

At first Pink wondered why she was given many aristocratic gems to work with at the beginning, but she soon found trying to curb their incessant penchant for plotting and scheming against eachother - which was only compounded by the drive to be recognised as a prominent member in the early stages of the court - trained her faster than any amount of mandated practice ever would. As much as Pink was to huff at their attitude, she kept her silence as they all saluted her too before making up their own line on the opposite side of the militant gems. Despite the small size of the group that gathered before her, Pink still appreciated their efforts to make her feel significant, even if it did not really work.

Now came the hardest part of the event, the speech itself. Pink quietly gulped to herself as she felt the gazes of four hundred people fall squarely on her. While she had done this before, she had never done it under the conditions where her words had real consequences - but whether those consequences would be positive or negative was hinging on the quality of her speech, and that fact unsettled her slightly.

Though as she began to be wracked by self doubt she momentarily looked down at Pearl who was at the foot of her throne, who in return instinctively turned her face around to see why she hadn’t spoken yet - an action borne out of concern for Pink’s wellbeing. 

As their gazes met Pearl couldn’t help but be flustered for a second, but from reading her diamond’s expression she quickly understood what Pink needed. Pearl gave her a reassuring smile as if to say ‘You have this’ before turning back around to face the rest of the court as to not draw too much attention to herself. Small as the act was, it gave Pink the nudge she needed and she soon cleared her throat to summon the fading attention of the gems around her.

“You may be wondering why I have gathered _ all  _ of you here today, and while many of you may think this is another address on a subject as benign as the preparation of another ball or dance in honour of the accomplishments of the other Diamonds. Though yes, while we will once more be making preparations, it is not for anything like that.” She informed them, mustering every scrap of speech making knowledge she had managed to retain from Yellow’s monotonous lectures.

“I have arrayed you here today to tell you that  _ we  _ have at last been granted the rights to, not one, but  _ over twenty planets _ in the new galaxy.” Pink proclaimed, putting special emphasis on a few key words of the statement to inspire the court.

“Hold that number in your mind. More than twenty planets.” She repeated, intoning the fact into the gems before her. “Planets that have been found to contain bountiful resources far exceeding the resources of most of the Empire’s planets. Bountiful resources we can use to finally build our court into something worthy of the other courts’ respect. Bountiful resources we can use to spearhead our expansion into an unexplored galaxy and claim it for gemkind.” Pink explained her vision with passion.

“But I will not fool you. The path in front of us will not be easy. For the first time in the Empire’s history we have met another interstellar power, one unknown in scope and wielding technology we have yet to see. And yes, unfortunately all of the planetes rightfully intended to progress us currently belong to them instead.” She announced gravely, quieting herself as she measured the reactions of the gems around her. Though they maintained a stoic facade, Pink could tell each of them held an amount of uncertainty chained up inside.

“Though I do not think we should fear them. Our Empire has not endured for over ten thousand years without reason. If we can channel this greatness now, then I do not see why we would not be able to overcome them and allow the Empire to not only endure, but prosper for ten thousand more!” She shouted out, almost standing up from her throne as she did.

When Pink finished her speech at first there was nothing, only stunned silence. But just as she felt doubt and dread beginning to claw away at her a humble ruby near the end of the line began to slowly clap, their eyes teary and bright, so full of hope for the future. 

Then Pink Agate snapped her neck towards the direction of the perceived disruption, though in a twist of fate than reprimand them, she herself slowly twisted around to face Pink Diamond, the palms of her hands too beginning to drum together. Not long after this the entirety of the military gems followed their commander’s example, the volume and speed of the applause growing as each gem became more confident in acting this way. 

A response had yet to come from the aristocratic gems, in fact most of them appeared to stay quiet while they discreetly sneered at the thought to be unrefined reactions of the lower class of gems in front of them. Yet in an instant this too changed as Pyrope made a few steps forwards out of line and praised her diamond with a dainty clapping of her own, though whether she did this out of her true emotions or to gain more favour was another question entirely. 

The other aristocrats stood shocked for a swift moment at her actions. However - despite the ambiguity of Pyrope’s motivations - they quickly collected themselves and soon followed the lead of the second highest ranking member of the pink court with applause that was more curated and controlled than the raucous cheers of the militant gems.

As each and every single one of the gems in front of her cheered for the progress that was at last being made, Pink couldn’t help but slip out of this steely serious demeanour and back into her usual self by letting a minimal, though no less giddy and childlike smile break out across her face. For the first time in her life she felt an unknown, practically foreign idea dance across her thoughts.

For the first time in her life, she finally felt like a diamond. And she enjoyed every single second of it.


End file.
